1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a telephone conversation quality enhancer using an emotional conversation analyzer. More specifically, the invention relates to apparatus for improving conversation quality by analyzing the nature and quality of the conversation and providing suggestions for improving the conversation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Speech analyzers for analyzing speech patterns to determine the emotional state of a speaker are well known in the art. Examples are shown in patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,093,821; 4,142,067; 5,647,834; and WO 9931653 (EP 1038291). These speech analyzers may be used in a telephone system to analyze the speech of a speaker on the phone. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,634 discloses a telecommunication system for dynamically selecting conversation topics.
The present invention is a telephone conversation quality enhancer using an emotional conversational analyzer for analyzing the conversation between a primary party using a first telephone unit and a secondary party using a second telephone unit. Its focus is on improving the nature of the conversation quality by first analyzing the nature and quality of the conversation, determining how the analysis fits into a set of conversation conditions, and then determining what conversational aids may be used to assist in the enhancement of the conversation. The apparatus used to accomplish this is as follows. A microprocessor communicates with the first and second telephone units and a database which stores conversational conditions and conversational aids. A conversation analyzer in the microprocessor analyzes the conversation occurring between the first and second telephone units and provides an analysis of the conversation. The microprocessor then applies the conversational conditions to the conversation analysis to select conversational aids. The primary party has a means to review the conversation analysis and the conversational aids. The means for reviewing cooperates with the microprocessor to receive the conversation analysis and the conversational aids.
The conversation analyzer includes; a word detection algorithm to detect speech parameters such as the time words need to be spoken, loudness, pitch, intonation, number, rate and distribution of words spoken by each party; a speech recognition algorithm which searches for emotional keywords, and a conversational analysis module. The word detection algorithm and speech recognition algorithm each provide an output to the conversation analysis module which provides an analysis of the conversation. The analysis of the conversation is applied to the conversational conditions to determine which conversational aids may be displayed on the means for review by the speaker to enhance the conversation.